AndyTBoater

I can't say I agree with anything they are doing - but - maybe I should? Their point is that when the oil starts to run out this will be the norm. It may not be the best way to go about it but we have known things need to change and alternative fuels sourced and used in the not too distant future. Have we done anything about it? Not really. And while fuel supplies are delivered and we don't have to worry about it nothing will change. But when the last drop of oil is used we will be back in this no fuel situation with no chance of " going down the Winchester and waiting for the whole thing to blow over" The worst bit of the whole thing will be listening to the hippy protesters telling us they told us and we ignored them.

That may be a bit far and not good for the eyes. Hundreds of naked middle aged, middle class environ- mentalists traipsing along the highways and byways of our green and pleasant land. Also barefoot. Think of the foot borne diseases that will be spread around. On the plus side, if we stock upon athletes foot powder we could make a small fortune.

Not a rant. More of a suggestion. The protesters seem to be from the "let's stop using fossil fuel" department. The ones they have arrested should be made to appear in court 50 miles away from where they live. And not be allowed to use any means of transport that relies on fossil fuels for their production or usage. No public transport, electric vehicles, cycles or the like. So it's either ride a horse or walk barefoot (most shoes will have fossil fuel stuff in their manufacture or construction. That'll show them. Probably.

So here we go again. Its been a long time since the last report. Mainly because lots has happened to make it look like nothing has happened. Whilst I have been busy doing inside things (re routing the water supply, installing cable tray, cutting down the board behind the helm, removing the Fwd dinette seat and associated gubbins) Robin has taken over the removal of all the wet bits of wood. And there is a lot of wet bits. As the last bits of deck were removed (the bits I had been told to leave alone) it became apparent that the Runners for the sliding roof were also a bit moist. So these will need replacing. As will all 70 odd deck support beams. And quite a bit of the cabin sides. Leaving Robin to sort that out I turned my attention to the dinette. Mrs L had decided that she wanted an L shaped dinette with a pull out bed instead of the face to face seating and drop down table affair we already have. When we realised that Robin had enough on his hands with decks I have built a box type seat thing which will give her the l shape she wants. It is only a temporary fix and next years plan is to make tyhe pull out bed bit. BEFORE AFTER Its a bit narrow as seats go but it'll all work out in the end. Probably You may also notice that there are other bits (like the cabin sides) that are now a bit short of hitting the deck. I am assured that the IS enough mastic in the world to fill this. If we are careful Honestly - its coming together Join us next time for pics if the decks actually on the boat and also hear about the new discovery of bodginess that is the forward cabin and roof supports Andy

I see a small business opportunity here Lovejoy`s Lunches and Comestible Cuisine - Freshly cooked outside the workshop and hand delivered. Ships Biscuit, Lime Juice (for Scurvy Prevention) and a hot buttered cabin boy - £5 Pemmican, ginger beer and a lick of the cat - £5 Suspicious looking meat served in a hollowed out bilge plank with Utile shavings - £5 Gaviscon or Milk of Magnesia - £14 Guaranteed not Vegan or Gluten Free Andy T Blumenthal

Its on the right just before you drive into the yard. Brilliant breakfasts with tea for a fiver.

Just a quick reminder that the Seagull Café is not open on a Wednesday or Sunday. I am sure you have factored that in though :) Bushells on Westwood Avenue do a good bacon roll for a Wednesday snack.

Pics sent by PM so you will never know

on 21/01/2022 BA wrote After much testing Howard declared he had no confidence in the 100 amp alternator, so we removed it. That will be handed in to a company up here in Donny sometime Monday. This being Gods Country and not Norfolk means by Tuesday it will have been tested and the results will decide on the way ahead. Then BA wrote After we had the alternator tested up here in Donny and the brushes replaced, Bro opened it up for an internal clean - Horrors - the firm had replaced just the ONE BRUSH - Not happy even less chuffed when Bro' discovered he had not cut / bedded it in either, £30 for ONE brush? It might have taken a bit longer in Norfolk but at least we know the difference between 1 brush and 2 brushes :)

I have a few of these that came with my Freeman. I don't need them now. Am away until early next week but will send you pics if you like.

As some of you will know, Lovejoy was reduced in price quite dramatically due to osmosis. I counted about 4 million little blisters and bubbles and badly patched areas of the dreaded "O" When the boat was out of the water I spent about a day and a half grinding out all the bubble. It was left for a week or so to dry out a bit and then Robin did his stuff with posh epoxy filler and patched everything up in a couple of days. It probably didnt need doing apart from the massive bit where a yard in Beccles dragged a 35 ft boat out on a 20ft trailer and cracked the keel. They then slapped a quick coat of glass mat over it, anti fouled and threw it back in the water. I touched that with a screwdriver and it all fell off emptying the bilge all over me. It was suggested that a full osmosis treatment would be anywhere from £5k to £15k I can assure you it was a lot less than this as a diy project. 4 days labour (mine and Robins) and a load of epoxy filler sorted it. It came out in December and there has been no significant deterioration (on the hull anyway) after a year ofv floating about. Get a discount, buy the boat and treat the "O" when it next comes out for an antifoul.

I have poked gently and more bits have fallen off. There is more in the skip now than on the boat. I will do an update on the restoration thread soon but at the moment its a case of fit one bit in and two more bits fall off. It will be great again in a couple of weeks. Robin is well on top of the decks and cabin sides and beams and deck supports and ...

I have what's left of a Bourne 35. It will be stunning again in a few weeks but at the moment..... Lovely boats to look at and to drive. However, even the full survey that was done by a previous prospective buyer didn't pick up on the amount of mangled wood that needs replacing. I would have another in a heartbeat but if you go for something like this just be aware of the potential for bits needing replacement. They are 50 odd years old now. No idea where you are located but if you want to pop over to Lowestoft to have a poke about and get a feel for it you are more than welcome.

Not my words, the words of Mrs L Flushed with my success at fitting a piece of wood back in Lovejoy I decided I was ready for a full blown restoration So I bought this Bought from a bloke in Lincoln who looks exactly like Fred Dibnah and restores Traction engines. He bought it in Brundall and was told it was from around 1929 and built in Wroxham And thats all I know at present Powered by an early air cooled Stuart Turner (with water cooling jacket added later its 12 ft long and was apparently a tender to a yacht. Closer inspection reveals a tax disc from 1991 with the name "Miss G Helliwell" Sadly not Gerry Halliwell of Spice Girls fame though. Its spelled differently. Its called "Bronte and was registered as W479 Craigs Database has no info on her other than its length Can anyone help me find out about it? Surely someone here musty know? To help you help me find out about it the old owner sent me these pics. No idea of the date but does anyone recognise anyone? I assume the bloke in the pics is NOT Miss Helliwell. Please help Andy

Robin is doing a sterling job on my Bourne hull. Might be worth popping down to see how he is fitting my rubbing strikes. The laminated bit around the front is much more complicated than it looks.

Robin still had another job on a small fishing boat that, as with all boats, had more work to do on it than was anticipated. This meant I had time to strip of the old canvas over wood cabin roofs. Judicious use of a Stanley knife, hot air gun and some powerful pulling had both front and rear cabin tops stripped in a couple of days. The glue that held the canvas on was not so yielding and it was another 2 days of scraping and thinners to remove the sticky residue and sand back to clean wood. There were only a couple of small patches that needed attention. More because Robin said they were slightly hollowed than for rot or snot. With guidance from The Master`s hand I cut and chiselled these out and will epoxy some Birch ply back in later. I do have to say that the hands in the pictures are Robins. And despite him being a skilled, time served and knowledgeable bloke I was the one who had to tell him that this was not quite the bit of the hammer you should use to hit things. And probably not the correct hammer either. (Its my hammer BTW) The original roof bits are actually in good nick. As will be the rest of it when finished.

There is always a deal to be done. It seems to have gained popularity with boaty people of late. African Mahogany Janka Hardness 1,070 lbf (4,760 N) The softest but still very close to Utile. Sapele: Janka Hardness 1,410 lbf (6,280 N) The hardest of the three options. Utile: Janka Hardness 1,180 lbf (5,260 N) So harder than Sapele and nearly as hard as African. Half the price of African Mahogany, very straight grain and looks beautiful when varnished. And at the moment a lot easier to get. As well as being sourced from sustainable forestry practices. I like it a lot.

In order for me to gain full "wooden" boat rights it has been suggested that we clad Lovejoy in 1 inch thick Utile planks. JA suggests 10 inch wide planks while Robin reckons cutting the wood down to make 4 inch tongue and groove. We have enough wood but I am undecided and would welcome suggestions.

Aah. Yeah. About that. News on a possible grp conversion coming soon.

OK – so last time I wrote I had the lino, decks and all the rubbing strakes removed and either skipped or burnt. The rubbing strakes were quite messy and actually came off quite easily. This was good. Well, good for me as I had 80 odd feet of it to remove. I was in the forward cabin tracing wires back for the upcoming rewire by JA Dave and Robin was on the outside poking about to see what the cabin sides were like. Suddenly, and without any prior warning a rather large hand appeared through the cabin side under a window. This, I thought is not good. Surely having one hand on the inside of the cabin side whilst the owner of that hand was outside meant there were more problems coming my way. Oh yes dear reader. So many more problems. It wasn’t a large hole. Robin could get both hands through but couldn’t quite clap. Hi statement that “It’ll all be fine” was, I believe more to reassure him than me. As he worked around the bottom of the cabin sides it didn’t appear too bad. My suggestion of trimming away the bottom 10mm of the cabin and adding another 10mm of deck on top wasn’t laughed at or treated with (much) derision. Yes I would have 30mm thick decks but it would allow us to cut out the rot and have a pretty new deck under an old but stable cabin side. All was right in the world. And then Robin got to the inner deck beam that supported the sliding roof. A gentle prod with a chisel showed that this too had rotten away to almost nothing. No amount of extra deck thickness would cure this. More mumblings of “It’ll be OK” came from Robin but this time in a slightly higher pitched voice. I have since been informed that a true boat builders voice will raise in pitch as the job list gets longer until ultimately it reaches a frequency that only dogs and bats can hear. We were not there yet but it was getting close. We decided to walk away from the mess for a while and drink tea. Lots of Tea

I have searched and searched the Forum to find a "Put it in a Skip" thread but couldn't see anything. I suppose it is a sort of restoration so her it is. This is the initially sad, but ultimately uplifting (hopefully) tale of the 2021/22 winter works of 230Y Lovejoy Built around November 1967 she is not quite as old as the 1942 born actor Ian McShane who’s character gave the boat its name in 1987. For a 79 year old Ian McS is looking quite good. Unlike the 55 year old Bourne 35 which, in places, has seen better days. I suppose that had Mr McShane spent 55 of his 79 years in the water he may look a bit rougher than he does now. So maybe Lovejoy isn’t doing too badly. . Anyhoo. On with the story. Following a bit of work on the underside and a bit of a rewire the previous winter it was decided that this year we would concentrate on the topsides and decks. A dollop of paint here, a touch up of varnish there and a bit of new decking would see her heading back to her glory days and looking great. The initial plan was to 1. Replace the 6mm covering on the sliding canopy sides 2. Remove and epoxy coat the fwd and aft coach roof 3. Complete rewire of the boat 4. Replace instrument panel with gauges and switches that matched and worked. 5. Replace rack and pinion steering with something better 6. Re arrange the cockpit dinette into an “L” shaped affair with sliding out double berth 7. Paint the hull and fill in any scratches and dings. We had allowed 3 months for this with a re-launch due around the first week of March. Loads of time to do it all and be ready for Mrs Lovejoy`s birthday in late March. If only we had known what she had in store for us. The boat that is – not Mrs Lovejoy. Kingfisher Robin had agreed to carry out the repairs and Janet Anne Dave would do the electrics. I was tasked with the job of removing all the Teak effect flooring which covered her decks and identify any bits of deck that needed replacing. Armed with nothing more than a sharp knife I set to work. In reality I had expected it to put up more of a fight but within a day it was all off and in the skip This I assumed was due to my skill as a boat de-restorer but turned out to be that the decks underneath were a bit damp and the “glue” had separated the covering from the plywood on the deck. Once the Teak/Lino was off we could see how the rubbing strake/ deck/ cabin sides had been put together The deck had been put in under the cabin sides and extended to the outside of the hull. The rubbing strake had then been attached to a point level with the top of the deck. The lino was then attached to the deck and then a capping strip was put on to cover the join in the deck/cabin sides. Toe rails were screwed through the deck on the outboard side and the whole lot had then received a massive dollop of mastic to seal it all up. A few years of people wandering around on the decks had caused the mastic to split and consequently any water running down the cabin side would not, as designed, trickle over the capping strip and run safely away but would dribble down behind it, run under the deck/ cabin side join and into the boat. If, by some miracle it did run across the deck it would find its way behind the rubbing strake and down the outside of the hull. As you can imagine, it was quite damp under there. In fact, the decks underneath the covering were so wet that the moisture had soaked right through to the underside. It was so wet in places that it was decided that the only way it would ever dry out is if we put it on the fire. So the task of removing all the decks commenced. I poked the first bit near the Portside heads with my finger and clearly used too much of the massive power in my hands as the 20mm thick ply gave way and fell into the hull. I am clearly stronger than I thought. I used a hand held circular saw, set to the correct depth so I could cut a line 2 inches from the cabin sides all the way around the deck near the cabin side where the wood was damp. This turned out to be the entire circumference of the boat. The 2 inch strip cutting thing was, apparently, the “proper” way to do it but I have a sneaking feeling Robin was a bit concerned about my power tool using ability and feared that I would cut off bits I wasn’t supposed to. The deck was then levered up with a bar and I worked my way around peeling off ever larger chunks of sodden wood. This included some of the deck support beams which I could actually squeeze the water from As I continued with my levering skills it became readily apparent that the rubbing strakes were quite moist as well. It had been hoped that at least the inner strake could be saved but after a quick once over from Robin and Janet Anne Dave/Ally this too was condemned and I was instructed to remove that as well. This was now getting serious. I was 4 days into it and was already removing more bits than anyone though would be required. As a note of caution to people who may be thinking of covering their decks with lino – DON’T. It was a good make and professionally applied but don’t. Just don’t. More to come following a short sit down and a minor crying session.

Hi all. Just bought a couple of bits off a chap on FB marketplace He has a Windboats "Pearly Miss" for sale. Built in Wroxham in about 1960 Details at this link HERE

"Share knowledge and expertise to build capacity across the protected landscapes family." Beautiful. I do admire people who can put that many words together and still not actually say anything. I know what each of the words mean individually but have no idea what they mean when put in this order.

Lovejoy was blessed with the dreaded Osmopox. Quite a lot of it. I got to 150 bubbles and stopped counting. Some had previously been repaired badly. A perfect circle cut with a holes saw (sans pilot bit), filled with P38 and antifouling. Each bubble was popped and ground out to clean and dry(ish) material, left to dry out for a couple of weeks and then filled with posh epoxy filler. The grinding took a couple of very dusty days and filling about the same. In all honesty it had survived 50 years without my intervention and probably would have survived another 50. I feel better for doing it though. As mentioned above. Osmosis has not sunk a boat to my knowledge.

That would be me. One end for hooking, one end for fending off I was trying to find a pic of it working but alas there are none available. I did get a certificate for it though. And not one my Mum made for me - a proper one. #proudestmomentofmylife And someone has a video of it being used to hand over a drink in a socially distanced manner. Andy T Inventor